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Upcoming Eventsand Deadlines

Become an SPJ Member

For more than 100 years the Society of Professional Journalists has been dedicated to encouraging a climate in which journalism can be practiced more freely and fully, stimulating high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism and perpetuating a free press.

About the Foundation

Since its founding in 1961, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation has promoted excellence and ethics in journalism. The SDX Foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization that supports the educational programs of the Society of Professional Journalists and serves the professional needs of journalists and students pursuing careers in journalism.

Excellence in Journalism 2016Sept 7-9, 2017 – Anaheim

Excellence in Journalism is the national journalism conference of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Join us in September in Anaheim for training, networking, workshops and more!

SPJ Leads

SPJ News

SPJ Blogs: Newest Posts

Quill Headlines

Journalist's Toolbox

@SPJ_Tweets

Connect with SPJ

SPJ on Facebook

Upcoming Eventsand Deadlines

Become an SPJ Member

For more than 100 years the Society of Professional Journalists has been dedicated to encouraging a climate in which journalism can be practiced more freely and fully, stimulating high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism and perpetuating a free press.

About the Foundation

Since its founding in 1961, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation has promoted excellence and ethics in journalism. The SDX Foundation is a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization that supports the educational programs of the Society of Professional Journalists and serves the professional needs of journalists and students pursuing careers in journalism.

Excellence in Journalism 2016Sept 7-9, 2017 – Anaheim

Excellence in Journalism is the national journalism conference of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Join us in September in Anaheim for training, networking, workshops and more!

The Awards & Honors Committee oversees most of the Society's awards, which are dedicated to recognizing outstanding achievement in journalism. Any changes in guidelines, judging criteria, categories or eligibility are reviewed by this committee.

Awards & Honors Committee Chair

Andy Schotz
City editor
The Frederick News-Post
Frederick, Md. @spjregion2EmailBio (click to expand)
Andy Schotz is a city editor for the Frederick News-Post in Frederick, Md.

He has been an SPJ member since 2002 and has held various positions on the Washington, D.C., Pro chapter board, including three consecutive one-year terms as president.

He served on the SPJ Ethics Committee from 2004 to 2011, including three years as chairman.

Schotz ran unsuccessfully for at-large director on the national SPJ board in 2012. The following year, he ran unopposed for Region 2 director.

He is a perennial SPJ contest judge (D.C. Pro Dateline Awards, SDX, Mark of Excellence, Green Eyeshade, high school essay) and has twice coordinated Region 2's Mark of Excellence contest.

He joined the SPJ Awards & Honors Committee in 2013 and helped work on a national survey seeking feedback about the MOE contest.

Before joining The Gazette in January 2013, Schotz worked for eight years as a reporter and editor at The Altamont Enterprise, a weekly paper in upstate New York, then for 13 years as a reporter for The Herald-Mail, a daily paper in Hagerstown, Md. He has worked at The Frederick News-Post since September 2015.

He is on the board of directors of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors.

Sarah Bauer, vice chair
Program Director
Minnesota Newspaper Association
612-278-0250 @sarah_mnE-mailBio (click to expand)
Sarah Bauer is the Program Director for the Minnesota Newspaper Association (MNA). MNA is the trade association all Minnesota Newspapers, and represents the interests of more than 360 daily and weekly publications. Bauer plans all educational and outreach programs for the Association, including hands-on training for journalists, public forums on media issues, an annual excellence in journalism contest, and its annual convention.

Bauer speaks regularly about media ethics issues, community journalism, social media, and issues like the intersection of journalism and politics. Bauer graduated from the University of Minnesota with degrees in journalism and philosophy. She has been involved with the Society of Professional Journalists as member and chapter leader since she joined the University of Minnesotas chapter. Since 2006, Bauer has served on the MN Pro chapter board of directors, currently serving as the chapter president and chair of its annual journalism award contest and banquet. She is also the chairwoman of the Societys national membership committee.

Awards Committee Members

Heather Lovett Dunn
Content director
Cronkite NewsE-mailBio (click to expand)
As content director for Cronkite News, Heather Lovett Dunn assists student reporters with story ideas and development, writing and live presentation of those stories in the award-winning student-produced live newscast Cronkite News.

Prior to joining the Cronkite School, Dunn worked as the senior content manager at KPNX-TV, the NBC affiliate in Phoenix. She also served as managing editor and executive producer of the morning newscast at the NBC affiliate. While there, she was honored with three Emmy awards for Best Newscast and Continuing Coverage of the Yarnell Wildfire, as well as for School Solutions, a franchise dedicated to helping parents navigate the education system. Dunn also produced newscasts at KPHO-TV and KTVK-TV, both in Phoenix, as well as KVOA-TV in Tucson, Ariz. Dunn also produced two education town halls in conjunction with NBC News’ “Education Nation.”

Dunn graduated from the University of Mississippi with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and political science. She has been a Kneeland Project Fellow and a graduate of Valley Leadership, and was named one of Xavier College Preparatory’s Women of Distinction. She considers herself a native Phoenician, and lives in central Phoenix with her husband.

Jay Evensen
Editorial Page Editor
The Deseret News
801-237-2185E-mailBio (click to expand)
Jay Evensen is a senior columnist and editorial writer for the Deseret News and deseretnews.com in Salt Lake City, where he has worked since 1986. He currently is a member of the SDX Board and previously served for six years as the Region 9 director on the SPJ Board. He also was president of the Utah Headliners chapter of SPJ in the early '90s. He has won numerous local and regional SPJ awards, was in charge of the Utah Headliner awards in the '90s, and has been a judge for MOE, SDX, the Pulliam Fellowship, the First Amendment Award and several other local and regional awards. He enjoys serving on the committee because he believes SPJ's awards are perhaps its most visible face to the world of journalism and must reflect the utmost in credibility and prestige.

Sue Kopen Katcef
Philip Merrill College of Journalism
University of Maryland
301-405-7526 @umnewsieE-mailBio (click to expand)
Sue Kopen Katcef is an award winning reporter who's currently the Broadcast Bureau Director for the Capital News Service operated by the Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Sue has been a member of SPJ since 1974 (when it was still Sigma Delta Chi) while a student at the University of Maryland. She is a past president of the Maryland Pro Chapter and a former long-time board member of the Washington, D.C. Pro Chapter. She has previously served on the SPJ national board as a campus adviser at-large and is currently SPJ's National Vice President of Campus Chapter Affairs. Sue has served on SPJ's Awards & Honors Committee for a number of years. As chair of the committee, Sue led the panel in what is now an on-going review of both the MOE and SDX awards to try and contemporize both contests. Sue has submitted MOE entries (on behalf of her students) as well as judged and coordinated (regionally) the Mark of Excellence contest and served as a judge for many years of the Sigma Delta Chi contest.